


Galaxy Oddity

by yersifanel



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Father-Son Relationship, Fix-It, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Memory Alteration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-14 07:55:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11778723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yersifanel/pseuds/yersifanel
Summary: Yondu crash-lands on a devastated red planet where a lonely child lives on his own in a palace that doesn't feel like a home (Or the one where Yondu is determined to get his kid back, as soon as he remembers what's going on).





	Galaxy Oddity

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and thanks for passing by and check out this little story that won't leave me alone, so here's to your reading pleasure. Let me tell you that this story has not been revised by a beta, I apologize in advance for any mistakes you may find (So sorry!)
> 
> Oh, and the title is a reference to David Bowie's "Space Oddity", because everything is better with Mr. Bowie
> 
> Enjoy!

"Goddam it!"

The alarms were ringing in his ears already, mechanical shouts of danger and annoying beepings alike, everything in the console indicated that Yondu's ship was not gaining altitude at all and on the contrary, it was in a pretty straightforward course to meet the ground, whenever Yondu liked it or not.

His mind switched from trying to fly to ship to a forced landing, he was acting on instinct along, since his mind was blank, he couldn't even remember getting on the ship, much less what planet he was flying – and now crashing into. Had he fallen asleep while flying? Was he drunk? Was he drunk and fell asleep while flying? Is not like it would've been the first time, but still, that was only one time, thank you very much.

The crash was inevitable, Yondu did the only thing left to do, try to make a decent enough crash-landing without losing the whole ship nor getting himself killed. It wasn't so hard, the surface of the planet was mostly even and his extremely rough landing was not directly over any artificial structures, as there was not much around. Avoiding the shaking was not possible and at some point he got knocked around and mercifully lost consciousness upon impact.

The blackout moment didn't last very long. With a groan, the Centaurian opened his eyes to stare at the floor of his ship, after a moment he rolled over his back and lay there assessing the damage on his body, he moved his legs, pressed his palms against the floor and moved his head from side to side, finding nothing broken so far. With that in mind, sitting up was a moderated event of pain and nothing else until he tried to stand, he busted a couple ribs for the way his body communicating that breathing, although important, hurt like a bitch.

Part of his brain wanted to assess the damage and get going, but he was unable to remember why he was flying solo into a unknown planet in the first place, so assessing that would be the best starting point, he could improvise after that.

Yondu gave himself a few minutes to just breathe, ignoring the sounds of hissing metal and sparks. The lack of immediate respond was a good sing for now, at least no local authority was trying to shoot him for crashing into their lands, not yet anyway.

He moved slowly to sit up, now with his back against the side panel of the broken ship and his memory failing in an uncanny way, Yondu was short of losing his carefully crafted control. His face remained impassive as his paranoia rouse, wondering is something or someone was watching him struggle with such a simple thing was I was remembering why he was in his current situation.

Footsteps.

He whistled, making the Yaka Arrow hovered around for moment before launching straight ahead, cutting through the metal hatch leading outside as it fell, stopping an inch from the forehead of a child, whom was watching him from outside the ship.

"Are you hurt?" he child asked, his bright green eyes barely acknowledging the arrow clearly threatening him.

His hair was copper and the wind made it wildly fly around in a messy swirl, his white and silver baggy pants were stained from the knee down, as were the cuffs of his long sleeve tunic, as if he had crawled on the red dirt of the field.

The kid reminded him of someone, but he couldn't remember whom.

"Watchu doin' here, kid?" a low whistle, the arrow hovered above the child's head then, turning back to Yondu, who caught it in his hand, watching his little stalker.

"I saw you over the balcony," he explained, pointing behind him, "It was not an asteroid, so I came looking."

"Hmmm so," he grunted. "Yer folks nearby?"

The kid frowned, "Folks?"

"Yer momma and daddy," he elaborated and the sad shine crossing the child's eyes told him more than anything else, still he waited for the kid to speak.

"Mom is… gone," he looked down and sighed, clearly containing a sob. "Father is not here, there's no one else but me."

Yondu raised an eyebrow, the child was not lying, but that made things even more uneasy for Yondu. He wondered what the kid meant by no one else, perhaps he meant in the field. The child climbed over the ramp, getting closer to Yondu, looking around with curious eyes.

"You're hurt," he kid said firmly this time, not a question. He bit his lip, frowning at Yondu, "You should come with me to the palace, I can help you there."

"Can ya?" Yondu chuckled. "Well, you gotta tell me yer name first."

"Peter," the kid answered with no hesitation, "My name is Peter, nice to meet you."

"Polite little fella, ain't you? Name's Yondu."

Getting up and walking off the ship was painfully bothersome for his ribs and aching body in general, but those preoccupations went took a second turn in his chart when he observed the place where crashed into. A very large property of something that once might have been a palace, for the look of the cracker construction and general architecture, his ship was in what looked like one of the vast gardens of the place.

He followed Peter over the courtyard, kicking ruble out of his way and ignoring the growing weed, they walked across the remains of an arch and into the building, the place echoed with their steps, every single sound bounced around them, making Yondu feel edgy.

"When's you daddy coming back, kid?"

" _Father_ ," he said looking at Yondu with a frown, "He's my father, not my daddy."

There was a difference there, Yondu felt a strange sense of familiarity over that but said nothing, expecting him to continue when he raised an eyebrow.

Peter sighed, "I don't know, he's mostly asleep, he can't stay awake too long, for now…"

Peter skipped a step and walked faster, clearly not wanting to talk about his father and deciding that the topic was closed, regardless of Yondu's opinion on the subject. The Ravager was not going to let that one go of course, but at the moment he was feeling uneasy with the silence around him, for a palace this big, they had not encounter anyone and honestly, who leaves a child alone is such a large and insecure place? Everything looked half destroyed or halfway under construction, it wasn't safe for a child, Peter was clearly important for whomever owned the property, or at the very least valuable.

"Here," Peter said reaching a door and pushing it open, it was a clean white room with two big comfy looking chairs next to one another, a bunch of cables connecting them together.

"What's this?" Yondu resisted the urge to bark at Peter, the room made him feel tense, the whole half constructed palace was getting o his nerves, really.

Peter clapped his hands together and slowly opened them, they were glowing white and blue, a sphere between them. It took all of Yondu's will not to whistle out of instinct, yet the mere idea of hurting Peter didn't still well with him.

"It's my light, I can do a lot of things with it, like, I can cure you!" he said happily, "But I'm not very good at direct contact, so we use this chair."

"We?" he prompted.

"Father, when he's around," he sounded bitter about it, "I rather help you."

Peter climbed in the chair that had more cables and put a couple of patches over his temples. Yondu noted that the chair had straps, but only the one Peter was sitting in, while the one he was supposed to sit on had no restrains at all, it left a sour taste on his tongue.

"Yer gonna get hurt?" He asked, sitting on the edge of the chair next to Peter, "Doin' this?"

"Nope," Peter rested his chin on his palms, his elbows on the edge of the armrest, the cables over his temple were thin and already glowing, "Not for _this_ , lay down, please?"

He shouldn't, Yondu's basic instincts were telling him this, while his brain was still scrambled and he had no idea what to think, if this was dangerous or not, if he was supposed to be in the edge of fight or flight mode, and yet he laid down, because, for some reason, he was completely sure Peter wouldn't hurt him.

The kid… was familiar, too familiar, the feeling so much closer and warmer than anything he had felt for anyone, and it made no sense. Yondu knew next to nothing about him, just that his name was Peter and he had some kind of power and was willing to use it to heal Yondu.

Lie, he knew a couple of more things. Like there was something fishy about the kid's father and that he appeared to live alone in an enormous structure resembling a castle.

Peter smiled at him, as the white-blue light covered Yondu, little by little the pain in his ribs subsided, and he could feel muscle relaxing, bruises fading. Peter was humming a song vaguely familiar as he let his light do the work, yawning after halve an hour of it.

"Ya can stop now, I'm all patche' up," Yondu sat up and got to his feet, ruffling the kid's hair as a praise, "Thanks kiddo."

Peter pulled the patches from his temple and jumped off the chair, almost tripping if not for Yondu catching his arm to steady him, graving him around the waist to lift him in his arms, resting his light weight on his hip. Peter steadied himself by grabbing a handful of Yondu's shirt and resting his other arm around the Centaurian's shoulder.

"Ya got somethin' to eat around here?" Yondu walked back to the halls, closing the door of the room behind him, noting where it was to come back later, "Who feeds you, anyway?"

"Kitchen is that way," Peter pointed to a hall, "There's food and if nothing's there, I got to the garden and grab it, I can make things grow pretty fast if I want to, I harvest xoconostles last time!"

"I ain't goin' to pretend to know what that is," he chuckled.

"It's a fruit, you doofus, a sweet and tart prickly pear," Peter giggle, "You take the spikes off and eat it!"

 _That's what you told me you old doofus_. Yondu frowned at the echo in his head, yet another memory of something that he didn't remember, like many things since he crashed.

"Oh, ya like sweet and tart things?" he had this image of himself getting a bag of caramelized maranbola flower petals, because they were sweet and tart. Funny thing was, he wasn't really found of that flavor, why he would get a treat like that then?

_There ya go boy, dontcha chunk them all in one go._

Yondu locked his jaw and kept walking while Peter described how he harvested all kinds of plants and fruits to eat, while there was also grains and other things around. He didn't mention any kind of meat and when they reached the kitchen his suspicious was confirmed, apparently there were no animals in this planet, for consumption or otherwise.

This boy had an extraordinary power over things around him, that light Yondu saw him use to heal him was very practical, to what extend the Ravager captain had no idea, but something told him there was a reason the boy was kept alone in this place. Some would say that it was to contain the kid, but Yondu thought it was to keep everyone else away, for some reason.

And where was the boy's father in all this?

Peter tugged his sleeve in a silent request to be let down, Yondu grunted in acknowledge, letting Peter onto the floor and watching him run around the kitchen collecting things he thought Yondu would enjoy. The kitchen didn't look like it had been use at all and Peter was mostly selecting things from a storage area.

"So… who cooks?" He asked, suspicious in his mind already.

"I tried but don't know how," Peter put together a plate with the healthiest things Yondu had ever seen together in a plate arranged for him, "I burned my hand when I tried and father got mad, he said this is enough for me anyway, so..."

Peter offered him a plate with vegetables, nuts and fruits. Yondu smiled at him and together they sat at the table on the center of the kitchen, Peter looked glad to just watch Yondu.

"Ya ain't got many visitors, do ya kid?" Peter shook his head, "And you live here all on yer on?"

"Mostly," Peter chewed on a red fruit happily, "Except when father's awake."

"So, yer father…" he began, "Where's he?"

Peter made a face, not liking the question at all, but answered anyway, "Down in the central chamber, he sleeps most of the time, says it's hard to stay awake these days."

Yondu narrowed his eyes, "He don't cook for ya?"

"He feeds," Peter licked his lips, his hands shaking a little, "And goes back to sleep."

Peter was starting to avoid his questions, Yondu decided to change the subject then, keeping the boy happy with a mindless conversation about the stars and a few details about Yondu's life. The kid apparently had never been off the red planet, it was only him and his father in the whole terrain and wasn't that suspicious at all?

It didn't take much to realize that this palace was a golden cage for the boy. He didn't have any confirmation at all, not really, but he just knew it, his gut was telling him as much and he had not lived this long by ignoring his instincts.

There was something in Peter, something he couldn’t put his finger on...

_…but I'm damn lucky you was my boy._

Yondu placed a hand over Peter's head, ruffling his hair while the echo of an unknown memory phased through his mind. He was sure something bad was going on that Planet, starting with him not remembering how he even got there or why, then the looming presence of the boy's father and the general lowliness the kid was kept in.

"Kiddo, that did ya say the name of this rock was?"

Peter blinked at him, "Ego."

Hearing that name felt like a punch to his gut, Yondu tried to not grimace.

***

_The place was falling apart, Peter was injured and they were running against the clock. Yondu made his decision with no hesitation, he was going to do right by Peter this time, for all the others he had not, he had been protecting the boy all this time, today was not going to be the exception._

_Yondu held Peter in his arms, ready to fly off planet and directly to the atmosphere, away from the destruction, he didn't have a spacesuit for himself but Peter would be safe, that was the only thing that matter, Ego had other plans though._

_A massive light tendril emerged from the collapsing ground beneath them, followed by another and a third one. It wrapped itself around Peter's ankle, hindering Yondu's rise with the jetpack, the Centaurian cursed._

_"Ya ain't gonna have him!"_

_He kicked the tendril, and whistle, calling to life the smaller arrows he held on his coat, not as effective as his primary Yaka Arrow, not enough to defeat a massive planet with a destructive god complex, but he had to do something._

_The light tendril released Peter, his kid's head lolled against his chest and Yondu held him tighter, he had to get him out of that monster's reach._

_"Come on boy, wake up!" he hissed, "Dontcha die on me!"_

_"Y-Yondu?"_

_"There ya go—"_

_The tendrils trapped Yondu by the neck and Peter by the waist, separating them with a powerful yank in opposite directions. Yondu cursed in his native tongue, Peter's confused gaze landed on him, his hand outstretched towards Yondu in an attempt to get to him, Yondu outstretched his arm even knowing it was not possible for him to reach his boy, his fingers mere inches from the other, too close yet too far, not enough to get a hold of him._

_"Look out!" Peter screamed the remaining light tendril launched itself to impale Yondu, Peter screamed and light erupted from his hands, sending a blast against the offending tendril, "Yondu!"_

_Yondu was shook restlessly from side to side, up and down, his sense of direction scrambles to make it impossible for him to give a coordinated whistle, he managed a few grazes towards the tendril holding Peter away from him, but not enough to make it drop his boy._

_He used the jetpack to level his direction, his hand towards Peter's, getting closer to him, if he could only take his hand they may have better chances of getting free. The explosions below them were getting louder and the destruction consuming the view entirety, then everything stopped._

_The tendrils froze, the destruction ceased and silence ringed loudly in their ears. Yondu was held an above Peter, his hand stretched towards him, Peter moved like a trapped animal fighting with tooth and nail, the light in his hands unstable, his fingers barely touching Yondu's for a second before the tendril yanked him down and into the thick dust of the dying planet._

_"PETER!"_

***

He woke up in a cold sweat, his heart hammering against his ribcage. The dream – the nightmare – left him shaken and angry, but it wasn't fading from his memory, on the contrary, the images were solid in his memory now, as if he had remembered something instead of dreaming it.

It was dark outside, the little fireflies shining over the ceiling was the only light in a room too bare to belong to a child. His hand went searching for Peter, but the covers besides him were kicked to a side, no sight of the child around.

"Shit."

Yondu got up, grabbing his coat as he exited the room, looking for Peter. The hallways were in complete darkness, the echo of his footsteps bouncing around the walls, Yondu gave a low whistle, calling the Yaka Arrow to life. It moved in a circle around him, Yondu cracked his neck and concentrated on Peter, once focused, the arrow flew past him, leaving a trail of red light for him to follow.

It wasn't a long search; the palace was mostly destroyed. Debris blocked entire hallways and windows that once had been beautiful stained glass retained none of their charm in their current broken state, shards spreader around carelessly.

The Yaka Arrow lead him to the white room, Yodu could hear Peter sobbing softly. Something ignited inside him, an anger he couldn't recall feeling since Stakar denied him before all the Ravager Clans, not believing his attempts to explain himself.

_I told you before, I didn't know what was going on..._

He shook the memory away, the present taking priority. The door was ajar, it gave him some vision of what was going on the other side. There was… something sitting on one of the white chairs, a thing with that looked more like a bunch of half cooked meat pile hold together with string than a person, in the chair besides it was Peter, strapped down to it with his eyes closed in agony, tears streaming down his face.

"No more of that," said the thing, "Cease this idiocy, Peter."

"I'm s-sorry, father!" the child responded, "You're h-hurting m-me."

"You hurt me first and now you must fix the damage, surely you understand that?"

"B-But—"

"Silence! Ungrateful as ever, _do_ as I say!"

Peter reluctantly relaxed on the chair and breathed hard, the wires connected to all over his little body glowed white and blue, the light they harvest from him then covered the thing that called himself the boy's father.

Yondu wanted to kill him, it, whatever it was, he wanted it dead.

The creature exhaled in bliss, consuming the light and slumped on the chair, disintegrating after a few moments, as the light dissolved and there was nothing more than an exhausted child sobbing in the room. Yondu pushed the door open and hasted towards Peter, releasing him from the straps to lift him up and into his arms.

Peter clung to him, hiding his face on Yondu's neck, his body shaking. Yondu held him tight, his mind at lost and the rage shimmering inside him.

"What was that?" he hissed, but Peter only sobbed harder, "There, there, I got ya boy, I got ya."

"H-he will c-come b-back, he _a-always_ d-does," Peter cried into his neck, "I don't w-want him to c-come b-back."

Yondu walked out of the room and into the hallway, he whistled afterwards, sending the Yaka Arrow to the white room, destroying the chairs and everything in the way, a temporary solution at best, but it helped Yondu to ease his rage a little, he couldn't think when he was this angry.

"Talk to me, son," It felt so natural, calling him such, thinking him as his own; like a balm over an open wound that had been aching for too long, "Was that yer father?"

Peter nodded, clinging to Yondu with arms and legs, his fingers fisting the red coat like a lifeline, "H-he came to feed."

"On yer light?!"

"He c-can't make enough of his own, h-he's hurt…"

As they walked, Peter was starting to calm down, his voice was a little steadier, his dead grip hold on Yondu firm, grounding him.

"Explain it to me, son, the whole thing," he requested and Peter sighed.

"He said I hurt him," Peter's voice was unsure, "I don't know that— but the planet, _him_ , is injured and he can't make his own light to fix it."

"How long have you been here, Pete?" the hand not supporting Peter's weight against his body went to the boy's head, his fingers running thought the straws of copper hair.

Peter hesitated, sounding distressed again, "I don't know," he sobbed, "I-I-I can't _r-remember_."

Yondu felt a shiver down his spine.

"That's it, Imma get ya out of here," Yondu decided, walking faster across the hall to reach the exit of the forsaken palace.

His were steps were firm and determined, until the floor collapse under him.

***

_There was a phantom pain on the crown of his head shimmering to the top were Nebula had shot his implant off. Rocket rewired the base to his prototype fin, but the shock of losing the implant in such an aggressive way was not going anywhere anytime soon. At least it wasn't like the first time, he didn't remember much about the time he got his fin cut and filed, only that it hurt enough to black out and he might have gone catatonic for a while afterwards._

_This time he only blacked out, so… progress, kinda, sorta…_

_Yondu inhaled deeply and exhaled loud enough for the group of people arguing around him to notice. Behind him, Kraglin was looking anxious at the monitors, the once outstanding red planet below them looked more like a shatter crater than the body of a Celestial. It reminded Yondu of Knowhere, another shadow of a once Celestial being._

_"He's alive," Yondu hissed, his red eyes fixed in the Guardians, "They're alive."_

_Nebula eyed him coldly, "You don't know that."_

_"Don't argue with me lass!" he spat, his resentment towards her not focus but present, "I know my boy is alive, Ego wants him alive, as long as there's a universe around him, because the goddamn jackass finally got what he wanted and he's not lettin' Peter go, ever."_

_Ego snatched Peter out of his arms and threw Yondu far into the sky, the light tendril close to kill him if not for the aero-rig bursting to life once again and Kraglin extracting him from the atmosphere, against his will of course, he wanted to get to Peter._

_Now, pacing from one side to another in the Quadrant with no idea what has being done to Peter, he couldn't shake the guilt of failing him once again._

_No, this wouldn't do._

_"The seeds Ego planted are dead," Gamora explained, looking at the report from Nova in a data pad clutched in her hands, the urge to launch into the planet barely suppressed, "If Ego is no longer expanding…. What is he doing?"_

_"Nothin' good," hissed Yondu._

_At some point, Drax and Gamora were discussing how they were going to get Peter back as Rocket quickly agreed or shut down ideas, Nebula remain silent and apprehensive while Mantis looked like she was about to burst into tears, Groot held on her trembling hands._

_"Captain!" Kraglin called in alarm, "Two life signals, one it's weak… very weak..."_

_Yondu gritted his teeth, he needed more information. The planet had changed colors, the atmosphere read toxic in their scanners behind heavy thick red clouds, storms brew and swirled with lighting. This was out of his league, he didn't know what he was fighting, none of them did, but he needed to get Peter to safety, he needed, he needed…_

_"Kraglin, open a line, I need the Ravagers," Yondu decided, his mind ready to do anything and everything._

_"Are you insane?" Rocket asked in disbelieve, "There are no Ravagers left!"_

_"Not from my clan, rat!" Yondu punched the code himself when Kraglin brought the screen up._

_"But Captain…" his first mate gave him a pleading look, the other 99 clans were not going to listen, not with Stakar's decree over Yondu's exile, "Whachu gonna do? How?—"_

_"Imma grovel for the rest of my fucking life," or keep groveling, as he had tried, more than once, "Whatever, anything."_

_The line, against all odds, was answered but it was not Stakar he was seeking, perhaps that was why the Ravager who answered didn't immediately scolded at him in disgust._

_That or the fact that he didn't have a mouth, Yondu didn't care._

_"Yondu," Krugarr voice was level, hard and cold yet not dismissive, but Yondu had no time to ponder over that, "You shouldn't be making contact."_

_"Please," his voice broke into a tone he had not used in decades and the only thing that prevented his hands from trembling was his hold on the edge of the console, this tine made the Lem frown, "_ Please _, Krugarr—"_

_The air around them vibrated and Kraglin scrambled away when a yellow sparkling circle emerged from thin air before them, the Guardian assembled in a fighting stance but Yondu immediately stood between them and the opening circle, his hand indicating them to wait._

_The circle expanded and a portal was formed, Krugarr moved between the space in his ship and towards the Quadrant, barely making a sounds as he slither by, stopping mere inches from Yondu, standing taller than him, hands before him, fingers touching the opposite._

_The sorcerer and Ravager Captain looked into his former companion's eyes, studding him in silence before speaking._

_"What's wrong?"_

_Yondu kept his head high, forcing his voice to not shudder, "My kid— that sonofabitch got_ my _kid."_

***

Pain was the first thing he felt upon waking up, but his mind flew towards Peter, he sat up quickly, looking for the kid as his brain processed the dream like memory, the familiarity with Peter and the general mess they were in.

He knew Peter, he was important to him.

Slowly, he got to his feet, around him a large cave extended with an array of blue and white shinning tendril enthralled around the rocks, Yondu followed them towards the center were a massive yet incomplete brain pulsed. It was a light grey color, it had missing patches all over and a thick grey liquid covered it, bleeding onto the ground under it.

His eyes moved to the small figure sitting in the ground before the half-dead Celestial brain, Peter was wrapped in blue tendrils, some of them stabbing him thru his middle, arms and legs, his hands tied before him with the very same tendrils. His skin looked ashen and he had bruises and scrapes all over, the kid looked so tired, his eyes blank as stars shone in them, but at the same time blinded him.

"Peter!"

The kid didn't respond, Yondu suspected he couldn’t hear him at all. He was about to reach for him when a one of the glowing tendrils surfaced from the ground and rammed him aside. Yondu landed on his back with a grunt, the brain pulsed and Ego's voice echoed in the chamber.

"If only you had brought him to me as I commanded, he wouldn't be like this," he sounded disappointed, but Yondu couldn't care less.

"What did ya do to him?!"

"I gave him the universe," he answered as if that was an explanation at all, "He's lost in it, obedient as he should be, my son and heir."

"He's ain't yer boy," Yondu got up, avoiding the tendril launching towards him, "He ain't yer battery!"

Ego hummed, "That's not for you to decide."

The tendrils rose from the cavern and attacked him in all directions, Yondu whistled to get the arrow around with a ferocity like no other. There was anger inside him but most of all he wanted to get this bastard dead so Peter was safe.

"Enough!" Ego shouted and one of the tendrils grabbed him around the waist and slammed him onto the ground before Peter, rocks moving around to drown him on dry land.

Yondu reached for the boy, his hand so clos yet unable to touch him, "Boy, wake up!"

Peter blinked slowly but otherwise didn’t react at all, Yondu cursed softly, fighting the sand and rocks around his body as he punched himself forward, he whistled again, the Yaka Arrow cutting through the tendril impaling Peter's chest.

"Come on son, wake up!" he insisted, "Peter, list to me boy!"

Peter's head moved and his black stared eyes locked on Yondu's, his child features confused as to what he was watching. Slowly he reached for Yondu's hand, taking it on his own. When Ego's tendrils pulled him, it did nothing, Peter's form didn't bulge and his hand didn’t let Yondu's go.

"Peter, listen to your daddy, enough of this stupidity!" Ego growled, making the tendrils glow and hurting Peter in the process. The kid hissed in pain, his little hand clutching Yondu's harder.

"You—" Peter blinked once, twice, the dark in his eyes fading, his features morphing into a scowl, glaring over his shoulder towards the diseased brain, "You are _not_ my daddy!"

Peter shouted, the light exploded around him, making the tendrils disintegrated, including the one holding Yondu down. The Ravager Captain quickly got to his feet and carried Peter off the ground, holding his against his chest, he whistled the arrow to his hand and Peter touched it, making it glow harder.

"What's this, boy?"

"He's dying," Peter sounded older now, even if his current form was still a child, his firm eyes locked on Yondu's, "We can take him down."

Yondu chuckled, "Ain't that a great plan? Let's get ya out of here first."

"Not without you," Peter clutched Yondu's, "Don't, please!"

Yondu said nothing, instead he whistled the arrow right on time, the tendrils were moving again, Yondu felt Ego and Peter's power, he wrapped his thoughts and heart into his target and whistled, then did it again, making the arrow light up blue flames thanks to Peter's power and shot it straight towards Ego's core, striking between the two lobes, front towards back and around, over and over again.

Ego's wails echoed in the chamber as it trembled and collapsed around them. Yondu held onto Peter and ran as fast as he could, jumping from pillar of rock to pillar of rock, Peter would shoot little bolts of light to prevent rocks from hitting them, as they climbed up the surface.

"We can't make it off planet," Peter told him, sounding resigned as they reached the surface, standing on his own two feet when Yondu le him down. He watched the storm clouds were over them, red and angry with lighting crashing around them, "It's over…"

"It ain't over," Yondu hissed and whistled the arrow around them and up towards the sky, past the storm and the clouds, "Not yet."

"Yondu?"

He looked as his kid, short as he had been when he picked him up from Terre all those years ago, it was strange to look down and not up after this long.

"Dontchu worry my boy," He assured, taking Peter's hand on his own, "Daddy's gonna take ya home."

Peter smiled at him, then he clutched his chest, hissing in pain. Yondu quickly got him into his arms, the kid was started bleeding from the several stab wounds from the tendrils, his connection with Ego was finally fading, but not taking the damage done to him it.

"Shit, shit, come on," Yondu looked into the sky, "Come on!"

"Yondu?" Peter mumbled into his neck, chuckling, "What're you waitin' for, you old doofus? We're done."

"No we ain't boy, I did right this time," He smirked, covering the panic he felt because there was just so much blood.

"What did you do?" Peter asked, and as the skies opened and a sparkling golden circled appeared before them, Yondu answered.

"I asked for help."

***

_Yondu is preparing the M-Ship while Krugarr watches him in silence, the Lem was probably analyzing something in him but Yondu couldn't bring himself to care, Peter was in danger and Yondu had enough of sitting there doing nothing._

_"You didn't know," he concluded and Yondu gave him a dark look, "About the children."_

_"Still my mistake," The Centaurian answered, but while it was true that he didn't know what had been going on with Ego, he should have had seen it, he had plenty of opportunities but didn't and that was something he would have to carry with the rest of his life._

_Those lives were lost, those children were gone… and his actions were part of it._

_"Young, greedy and stupid," he mumbled punching some information into the console, barely containing his self-directed rage._

_Krugarr tilted his head but made no comment about it, instead he focused on the information they had gather, "The Celestial's power must be retaining his offspring in the planet, the energy around it read wrong and displaced, as if time itself had shifted and forgot to function in the surface of the planet"_

_"That jackass is his father in name only," Yondu hissed, "Bastard wants to use him, nothin' more, nothin' less."_

_Krugarr tipped his head in a silent agreement, Yondu couldn't tell why, since his once friend only had Yondu's word as prove of everything he said, perhaps the fact that the Guardians were supporting his actions had something to do with it._

_Although it would be nice… if Krugarr believed his words just because they were coming from him._

_"The storm will be a problem," the red clouds surrounding the planet were thick and dangerous, Krugarr pointed out more than once, "It might affect you in a negative way, unpredictable but negative, for sure."_

_"Red puff of death, got it."_

_"Yondu…"_

_"I got it," he repeated, closing his eyes, "Even if the ships blow, I'll reach the planet and get Peter, and that's that."_

_"Once you two are reunited, send the signal," the sorcerer told him once again, "I'll get you both, as extraction is our priority."_

_He wanted to kill Ego, he was eager to do it, but Peter's safety was first._

_Yondu climbed into the pilot's chair, Krugarr gave him a long look. Tentatively, Yondu did the Ravanger solute, his fist to his chest, and contrary to Stakar a few days before, Krugarr repeated the motion._

_No more words were exchanged, Krugarr left the ship and Yondu navigated towards the dying red planet below them, to get the only good think he had have in his life back._

***

Yondu's eye were all misty, he blinked hard to get rid of the moisture, but it was hard when he watched Peter as he looked the day he picked him up from Terra all those years ago. His kid had his eyes closed, he was fast asleep, yet holding onto Yondu as his life depended on it.

"Why?" he asked to no one in particular, Gamora was right beside him using a medical examiner to determinate Peter's condition, Manti's hand touching lightly the boy's forehead, "He ain't a child no more!"

Mantis licked her lips, "It might be because of Ego… he could take shapes as it suited him, Peter has his power as well… if he touched Peter's mind, made him believe he was a child again… the light did the rest."

Gamora's lips thinned, "His wounds are healing, he's dehydrated and probably needs to eat, but nothing more."

Rocket was holding Groot, who jumped to touch Peter's hand, "I am Groot."

"You sure buddy?" Roocket asked, kneeling at his side, "He will change back?"

"I am Groot."

"He's not growing like you Groot," his friend reasoned, "No, not that, you mean, faster?"

"I am Groot!"

Rocket chuckled, "Yeah, like a flower."

Krugarr was watching them, a bright mandala hovering over Yondu and Peter, the Lem looking between the magic circle and his fellow Ravager, lingering in them until he appeared to be satisfied.

"The little one is right, he is shifting back to his chronological age, it might take a couple of weeks or so, his memories should return with time as well."

Yondu sighed, holding Peter in his arms as he got up, nodding to himself, "Thank you."

Krugarr nodded once in acknowledge and left the Guardians to their reunion.

He had a call to make.

***

Peter looked fourteen – each day closer to his age – when Stakar came. The Ravager leader felt older than he looked, and he didn't come alone; Cahrlie-27, Aleta, Martinex, Mainframe, with Krugarr no far behind, Yondu was sure the Lem was responsible for that visit.

Yondu stood there in silence, Peter was looking between the Ravangers and the man who raised him – his dad – why confusion and some apprehension.

"He saved me," Peter said before anyone could talk, "From Ego, _twice_."

Stakar turned his attention towards Peter and to Yondu surprise, he smiled.

"You must be Yondu's boy."

"Damn right I am!"

They didn't discuss it in detail, the just slipped into place, just like that, Peter made the decision for them both. Sometimes he would call him dad and Yondu would feel panic, because even thinking that was exactly what he wanted, it was a completely different story to face it. Still,

he never corrected him, never denied him, because yeah… Peter was his son.

"Stakar," Yondu finally said and nodded towards the others, "What's going on?"

The older Ravager walked closer to him and grabbed a fistful of his jack, to Peter's utter indignation. For a moment, Yondu thought he was going to punch him, but Stakar smiled at him and moved his hands to frame his face.

"You're a fool, son," he said and the affection was not miss to anyone, "And you have been away from family far too long."

Yondu inhaled sharply, at the same time Peter latched to his sleeve, watching them intendedly – because he became Yondu's family when he lost his own, and never stopped being _Yondu's_ – ah, but his boy had a mouth and he wouldn't be his boy if he didn't use it.

"Kinda hard to do so, you know," he said with a heavy layer of indignation that made Yondu chuckle, "Exiled and all that."

Aleta was smiling, "Well, we better fix that, eh?"

Peter blinked, "Eh?"

Yondu stared at Stakar, past him to his former team and back, "You mean that?"

"Yeah," Stakar cradled Yondu's face, "100 Clans, united."

Yondu chuckled, "I ain't got a Clan no more, except my boy here and Kraglin, mutiny would do ya that."

"Also, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot… maybe Nebula, but we don't talk to her much," Peter said and pursed his lips, "She's crazy."

Aleta came closer, a broad smile on her face, she looked from Peter to Yondu, "Your boy, no doubt."

Yondu shrugged, feeling the steady presence of Peter at his side grounding him. Stakar before him, his friends welcoming him back. Peter leaned onto him, his eyes searching for something in Yondu's, a silent question that needed to be answer.

"Ya already know Krugarr, boy," he said, "Let's get ya settle with my other mates here."

Peter gave a low whistled and nodded happily.

***

After three weeks, Peter was back to his chronological age, his speed growing stopped after that, this was confirmed by a medical team – and visit to Krugarr – the appropriate revisions were thoughtfully made because nobody wanted to risk Peter aging another twenty years in a few weeks.

"I'm _fine_ ," he said walking around the Quadrant's bridge, "Totally fine!"

He tripped and fell flat on his face.

***

"Why are ya brooding, boy?"

Peter was sitting with his back against Yondu's bed, the Ravager had found him there but Peter was just staring blankly at the space, looking lost.

"I miss my Walkman," he mumbled as Yondu sat beside him, "Ego broke it."

Yondu tilted his head to a side and nodded, walking towards him and sitting on the floor next to him, pulling out a fully charged and ready to use Zune.

"I know is not the same," he said presenting the gift, "But it has 300 songs and you might like it."

Peter carefully took the it, "Zune?"

"That's what it's called," Yondu shrugged, "Here."

Yondu untangled the headphones and showed Peter how to turn the Zune on, quickly browning over the songs. Peter chose one he liked, taking one of the headphones off and passing it to Yondu so he could list as well.

The song talked about a father and his son, Yondu let his head fall against the edge of the bed and sighed, closing his eyes.

"I love it," Peter said softly as they listen, "Thanks… Dad."

Yondu smiled.


End file.
